The Witch Hunter System-Chapter 1212: Discovery in the Astral Soul Realm
Every time Vaan returned to the Astral Soul Realm, he couldn’t help but want to sleep.
The atmosphere in this transcendent plane easily invoked such urges. Any tired soul would want to rest and find peace, bask in it, and never hope to return to the realm of reality, the world of the living.
This vague feeling almost seemed like the power of a law.
However, that would also make sense. No matter how extraordinary and mysterious the Astral Soul Realm was, it wouldn’t be without its own set of governing laws.
If so, what kind of law or laws were they? Could they also be comprehended?
Vaan suspected that if he could comprehend the Astral Soul Realm’s governing laws and apply them in the third-dimensional world, his power would become truly transcendent and seemingly omnipotent.
However, the Astral Soul Realm could be considered a higher dimension.
As such, it was natural to assume that its governing laws would be far more powerful. Alas, that would also imply they would be far more difficult to comprehend than any other laws.
This time, after Vaan entered the Astral Soul Realm, an entirely new scene filled his vision when he exited the starship he chose to meditate within.
Countless shattered star fragments floated in the vast region of dark space, seemingly mirroring the exact same scene within the depths of Umbral Edge.
Although the Astral Soul Realm was generally dark, the current scene within the depths of Umbral Edge was surprisingly brighter than its reality.
Even if Vaan entered the Astral Soul Realm during the day on some planet, the Astral Soul Realm would still have an eternal night. Yet, in the darkness of Umbral Edge, it did not become even darker but actual brighter.
The moonlight-like brilliance of soul essence was far-reaching, illuminating distant regions of space. Only the vast nebulous bodies of dark clouds prevented him from seeing more distant regions beyond.
On the other hand, the reality of Umbral Edge’s depths neared absolute darkness.
The light of distant stars could not penetrate Umbral Edge’s thick walls of nebulous dark clouds, while its depths only gathered shattered remains of dead stars.
With no source of light, the only way to navigate its vast depths was through one’s divine senses and sensory magic.
However, even they proved to have limited effects within Umbral Edge’s vast depths.
Their ranges would never exceed Umbral Edge’s vastness. Thus, they would not be able to see the way out. If they were caught within the thick masses of dark matter and energy, they might even become lost within its maze.
Fortunately, such a problem didn’t exist within the Astral Soul Realm.
’Whether it’s Umbral Edge or the Astral Soul Realm, the absence of brilliant stars seems to blur the concept of time," Vaan mused thoughtfully.
After stepping into the Astral Soul Realm in his astral form, he quickly realized he could utilize the Astral Soul Realm’s unique environmental features to navigate through Umbral Edge’s depths and locate the way out in reality.
’Since I’m here, and my power practically rivals the ancestral god of creation, I might even be able to discover the peculiarities of Umbral Edge’s situation...’
Vaan’s eyes lit up.
Within moments, he set his sight on a distant mass of dark nebulous clouds, and with a wave of his hand, it parted like a heavenly divide, allowing the hidden region beyond to emerge.
Without a doubt, such an act also drained his soul power.
However, being in the land of endless soul essence, he could easily and quickly replenish his soul power by absorbing the soul essence around him. With consistent absorption, his soul power was virtually limitless.
As Vaan continued to part vast, distant bodies of nebulous dark clouds, discovering new regions previously unseen, he found several survivor shelters among the shattered star fragments.
Although there were no survivors within these distant underground shelters, the numerous signs of artificial construction proved they had been built by survivors.
However, since he couldn’t see the survivors of these shelters within the Astral Soul Realm, he was unable to confirm whether such shelters were still occupied by survivors or if they had long been abandoned.
’Looking at all these stellar remains, Umbral Edge must have swallowed at least billions of stars...’ Vaan noticed.
Within these billions of stars, countless more beings must have thrived. Yet, how many of such beings were still alive?
Not even the corpses of the fallen ones were left behind after death.
Everything had been cleaned up. In fact, it wasn’t just limited to the biological material; even the fallen stars’ astral essence had been completely devoured.
Otherwise, such a vast region of dead stars would have undoubtedly been perfect for cultivating the Astral God Divine Body.
’That’s truly unfortunate...’ Vaan thought.
That said, the astral essence of dead stars wasn’t necessarily great. Its quality would surely be inferior to the astral essence of star-forming nebulae.
"Oh?!"
Suddenly, Vaan made a big discovery.
After his regular separations of vast cloud masses, he found an enormous dark spot in the distant region, hundreds of light-years away.
This enormous dark spot was spherical, with a white, radiant outline like a black hole as it swallowed numerous soul essences. It was nothing like the origin source of the Astral Soul Realm, where all the soul essence gathered.
Although it looked like a black hole, it was not one.
More accurately, it was more like a gravity well of some celestial body found in hyperspace. Only this gravity well was incredibly enormous and even affected the Astral Soul Realm.
"Could this be the Grand Unity Human Clan?" Vaan suspected.
However, this thought only lasted a moment before he quickly abandoned the idea. The Grand Unity Human Clan’s Holy Land couldn’t possibly be so close, being merely a few hundred light-years away.
Moreover, the Grand Unity Human Clan had incorporated countless galaxies in its superplanet-type Holy Land. As such, it should be many times larger than this dark spot he discovered.
